Mitch Kasprick is now the “Westdale Curmudgeon”
Odds and Ends, Thoughts, and Questions from this past week in hockey –
Just so there’s no confusion when I’m spewing my bias, I am a fan of the Winnipeg Jets, Arizona Coyotes, Manitoba Moose, Winnipeg Ice, and all Team Canada Hockey teams.
I am NOT a fan of Gary Bettman or as I call him, Count Chocula. I am a big believer in the 7Ps or is it the 8Ps? You’ve been warned.
You can listen to a more in-depth audio version here >>> Audio Version … Podcast is now live
Key dates:
April 17: Start of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs
May 8: NHL Draft Lottery (7 p.m. ET)
June 3: Tentative start of Stanley Cup Final
June 4-10: NHL Scouting Combine
June 26: 2023 NHL Awards
June 28: Round 1 of the 2023 NHL Draft (7 p.m. ET)
June 29: Rounds 2-7 of the 2023 NHL Draft (11 a.m. ET)
1. Jets: The Winnipeg Jets went 2-1-0 this past week but the way they finished the week was like night and day from how it started. After being shut out in San Jose the boys put up a six spot on both Detroit and New Jersey over the weekend. The Jets are still sitting in the second wildcard spot with a record of 43-31-3, 2 points up on Calgary (even games) and 5 points up on Nashville who have 2 games in hand. After all of their struggles, the Jets still managed a 7-7-1 in March.
2. Jets: This really says it all. Rick Bowness after the 3-0 loss to San Jose.
“The inconsistencies of some of our guys is hurting us. Some of these guys think they’re giving us everything in their tank, they’re dreaming. We have a lot of guys in there giving us everything they can. We just need a few more guys to jump on board.”
“The inconsistencies of some of our players is hurting us. If some of these guys think they’re giving us everything in their tank, they’re dreaming.” –#NHLJets head coach Rick Bowness pic.twitter.com/fLf0Q1lZ8d
— Winnipeg Sports Talk (@SportsTalkWPG) March 29, 2023
3. Jets: I have absolutely no problem with Rick Bowness harping on Mark Scheifele about defensive play but when it comes to Bones telling Scheif how to play offence he is out of his element. An interesting stat is the Jets are #1 in the NHL in slot opportunities ON OFFENCE, hence puck possession, BUT in saying that Scheif shouldn’t have contradicted his coach in that media session after the San Jose loss. That wasn’t a good look for Mark Scheifele and I’d be shocked if we see 55 on this team next season.
4. Jets: Vladdy Namestnikov, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Blake Wheeler seem to have found some chemistry and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The NEW line was pretty good this weekend.
N amestnikov
E hlers
W heeler— Westdale (formerly Motown) Curmudgeon (@WpgSportsTalk) April 3, 2023
5. Jets: As much as I want the Jets to make the playoffs when I compare Calgary’s schedule to ours we could be in big trouble. If we miss the post-season all we have to do is look at the points the Jets pissed away against the bottom-feeders.
6. NHL: Tie-breaker rules
1. The first tie-breaker is regulation wins (RW), which are all the wins you’ve accumulated minus those in overtime or the shootout.
2. If teams have the same number of regulation wins, the second tie-breaker is regulation and overtime wins (ROW), so only the shootout is excluded.
3. If still tied, the total number of all wins is used.
4. If still tied after that, the edge will go to the team that accumulated more points in the head-to-head matchup against the team they’re tied with.
The good news is right now the Jets (33) hold the tie-breakers over both Calgary (29) and Nashville (28) and that is like having an extra point in the standings.
7. Jets: Two more years of Nate Schmidt at $5,950,000 and Neal Pionk at $5,875,000 are going to be anchors on this organisation and NEED TO BE MOVED ASAP. If Chevy is still the GM he needs to make room for prospects and free agents.
8. ICE: The Winnipeg ICE lead their best-of-seven series versus the Medicine Hat Tigers 2-0 after 5-3 and 5-2 wins this past weekend at the Ice Cave on the U of M campus. The ICE now head to the HAT for their next 2 games.
9. Jets: I’m not very happy that the “Gus Bus” is being parked in the garage. David Gustafsson has an underrated offensive game that could help the 4th line create some offence.
10. Jets: TSN Insider Darren Dreger reported last week that GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and the Winnipeg Jets are “all in” to keep Pierre-Luc Dubois on the team. I guess this means they are going to offer him a shit-load of Benjamins.
11. Jets: I’m just not a Karson Kuhlman guy. The fact that he is in the lineup over David Gustafsson, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Jansen Harkins makes me want to hurl.
12. Jets: I’m not sure what happened to Mason Appleton but he looks fast again and he’s been playing pretty well lately but at $2,166,667 for two more seasons I think he is overpaid. Morgan Barron can do what Appleton does for under a million per season and in my opinion, Barron is a better hockey player.
13. Jets: Poll question
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14. Jets: My weekly question for Rick Bowness, Kevin Cheveldayoff, or Mark Chipman.
This question is for Rick Bowness: What took you so so long to put Nikolaj “don’t call me Nik” Ehlers on the first unit powerplay?
15. Jets: As of this morning Money Puck has the Winnipeg Jets at 68.9% to make the playoffs. This number is very fluid and changes every day. I will update this every week until they clinch a spot (being positive). Last Monday the Jets were at 78.6%.
16. Jets: Special Teams: Rule of thumb. Have the two red numbers (PK and PP) total at least 100% when added (as your minimum).
- PP: 24th at 19.30% down from 22nd at 19.30%
- PK: 6th at 82.30% down from 5th at 82.90%
- FO: 22nd at 48.80% up from 24th at 48.60%
